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  1. #1
    Senior Member sidvicious's Avatar
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    black material issues

    i'm new to the forum and see that this is a well informed group. very nice, indeed. i did a search before posting this and saw no hits so forgive the redundancy if this has been covered.

    if you're in mosquito country it is advisable to avoid black materials when possible. this is especially so for shaded woods with moisture present. mosquitoes flock to black like its money.

    if you hang a black hammock under a tarp with mosquitoes in the air, look out; they will find you. other colors don't suffer near as badly. the flatter and "blacker" the black, the bigger the draw. other colors generally pass unmolested.

    oh, this also applies to netting. how fitting that most of it is black.

    i just picked up some new hammocks, some of which only come in black. yep, they draw mosquitoes.

    fyi.

    sv-

  2. #2
    Senior Member Lonely Raven's Avatar
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    Sid,

    I'm super allergic to mosquitoes, so I've read up a lot on them and ways to deter them. I don't recall ever reading anything about black attracting them.

    Do you have something to back that up? I'd love to read more if this is the case.
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  3. #3
    Senior Member sidvicious's Avatar
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    well, you don't know me of course, but i can vouch for this. anyone in the river delta could. also, i imagine google is crawling with info. i haven't checked. i'll try to check it later. got some fires to tend this afternoon and a very grouchy secretary.

    cheers,

    sv-

  4. #4
    Senior Member ice man's Avatar
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    Sid... The reason for black skeeter netting is visibility. Its easier to see OUT of than other colors. As far as black attracting skeets, Ive never heard of such a thing. They are definitely drawn to blue, tho.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Running Feather's Avatar
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    Sources please.
    2015 John Rock Spreadsheet.

    "If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you should do is STOP DIGGING "

  6. #6
    Senior Member sidvicious's Avatar
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    as with most information its all over google; just checked. however, i've lived it for years. its considered basic know-how where i'm from. so i am the source.

    the reason i mentioned it here today was because over the weekend i left my jackrbetter hammock strung up for a bit and left it. when i returned it was covered in mosquitoes. other items, backpack, grey tarp, etc, had none, but the hammock was completely covered. black is bad in mosquito alley.

  7. #7
    Senior Member flatline's Avatar
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    i found this article

    "Dark Colored Clothing
    Clothing that does not reflect much light is usually more attractive than more reflective clothing.

    In practical terms, black or dark-hued clothing of any color is often more attractive to many types of nuisance mosquitoes than light (white, khaki, green, or yellow) clothing.

    Several studies indicate that mosquitoes belonging to the genera Aedes or Ochlerotatus prefer dark colors over light colors. These studies will be summarized below. Caution should be exercised in assuming these results apply to other genera, especially Anopheles, for which there is limited data suggesting that lighter colors (yellow and white) may be preferred (Ko, 1925).
    Brett (1938), Brown (1951, 1954, 1955) and Gjullin (1947) established color preference in some mosquitoes by exposing them to different colored cloths, either as clothing on human volunteers, stretched over a box which enclosed a human hand, or in studies using temperature controlled robots. The general order of preference was black (most attractive); red (very attractive); blue (attractive to neutral), green, yellow, and white (less attractive). "

    i googled "mosquitoes attraction to color". there seems to be a bunch of sites that say dark clothes are targets...
    Last edited by flatline; 08-22-2011 at 13:20. Reason: googled

  8. #8
    Senior Member Pipsissewa's Avatar
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    Yep--I guess it's true. Here's an excerpt from an article about what attracts mosquitoes:

    "Clothing color has an effect as well. The colors are ordered: black, red and blue (all very attractive); gray, green and tan (neutral); yellow and white (least attractive). Which raises an interesting question: If you wear unattractive clothing, will a disproportionate number of mosquitoes land on your exposed head and arms? The research answer is no.
    ...
    * Mr. VanDyk's summary of mosquito attraction studies may be found at his Iowa State University website. (http://www.ent.iastate.edu/dept/research/vandyk/hostseek.html)"
    "Pips"
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  9. #9
    Senior Member hippofeet's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by flatline View Post

    Several studies indicate that mosquitoes belonging to the genera Aedes or Ochlerotatus prefer dark colors over light colors. These studies will be summarized below. Caution should be exercised in assuming these results apply to other genera, especially Anopheles, for which there is limited data suggesting that lighter colors (yellow and white) may be preferred (Ko, 1925)..
    So. I guess gray is yay?
    An emergency of my own making...is still an emergency.

  10. #10
    Senior Member JohnSawyer's Avatar
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    Interesting.. I'll stick to neutral colors and encourage my camp-mates to wear black!

    Evolution in action!
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